by Becca Dale
“I knocked.” Smooth, Jones. He lifted his hands in surrender to the shock rolling off her. “I wanted to show you something.”
With a huff, she wrapped the towel around herself. “Looks more like you came to see something.”
Answering her glare with a helpless smile, he put his hands behind his back and tipped his head to minimize any threat she might perceive from him. Her spirit had not deserted her despite the trauma she’d faced most of her life, and the combination of strength and vulnerability drew him. He strolled across the room to where she stood trembling with indignation. Her emotions ran high with rising hormones. In full heat, she would offer a spectacular challenge, one he couldn’t wait to meet.
Not until she’s stronger.
His human side lectured his wolf, but it snarled and strained to claim his female. Careful not to startle her further, he touched her short wet hair. “I like it this way.”
“You like when I look like a drowned rat?”
“No.” He chuckled low in his throat. Everything about her, even when she acted hissy as a wet cat, appealed to him. The scent of her fertility enhanced her attraction but did not account for it. No female had ever affected his inner animal in the way Nadi did. “Your hair looks good curling by your face. It emphasizes those stunning eyes of yours.”
“Do you think if you flatter me enough, I’ll forget you walked in while I was naked?”
Her moodiness didn’t lessen the fire raging in his blood. “You had no clothes last night.”
“I had fur.”
“Not by the pond.”
She slipped around him. Gaze down, she hurried to the low dresser near the wall opposite the window. “That was a mistake.”
“You think so?” The denial of her passion hurt unexpectedly. He caught her arm, so she couldn’t avoid him. “I disagree.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think, Ryan. It won’t happen again.” She pulled away to jerk on a pair of jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, hiding her fading bruises and her pretty little tits.
His groin tightened. Before the day was out, her breeding instinct would overshadow her fears, and his ability to control himself would weaken accordingly. He’d ensure she was back in her room, safe and sound, by the time her heat reached its crest—with him and every other randy male locked outside. Until then, he’d play protector no matter how much he wanted her wrapped around his dick. “Take all the time you need to adjust to the idea, gorgeous. I’m in no hurry.”
She lifted her head up with a defensive snarl. “You’re awfully cocky in another man’s house.”
“Jake’s not your man.”
“He’s my brother.”
He fought a grin but failed. “Exactly.” When she scowled at him, he sat on the corner of her bed, no longer even trying to hide his smile. “Put some shoes on.”
She eyed him warily but sat at the desk and tugged on socks and hiking boots. Struggling with the unfamiliar laces, she tried to tie her shoes, a task so familiar to most adults, so foreign to her. Suddenly, she paled from bending forward too long, her strength not up to par. He was at her side before she could fall and pressed her back against the wide chair.
“Easy, Nadi. Don’t rush.” He rubbed his thumbs over her wrists, soothing her and testing her pulse. Once color returned to her cheeks, he laced her boots for her, pulling the strings tight around her slender ankles.
“I hate being weak.”
“I know.” He stood and offered her a hand up. “I make a good pack mule. Want a lift to your surprise?”
Pulling away, she shook her head. “No.”
“Would you rather wait another day or two until you’re stronger?”
Her spirit returned, and she straightened her spine. “Will I like it?”
“I hope so.” Stepping to the side, he gestured toward the door. “You game?”
“Is it far?”
“I have my motorcycle. All you have to do is hang on.”
Nadi’s fingers were cold, and her knees felt weak. A strange warmth hummed in her blood. Whether dizzy from the proximity of the massive man in front of her or the head rush she’d suffered, she didn’t know. Jake had promised his foster brother wouldn’t hurt her, and when their sister and her kitten had dropped by, Kya had said the same thing. Lynx had rushed to curl and spin around her uncle’s legs until he scooped her up and blew against her tummy to make the baby scream, her tail whipping in delight. His family believed Ryan had hung the moon in the sky just so others had something to howl at.
Memories of his gentle touch combined with his rough voice while he led her to orgasm near the creek sent a shiver through her. The guy sparked a wild hunger in her, which frightened her almost as much as the man himself. Not that he’d reacted violently against anyone except Diablo, but the potential sat on his broad shoulders and circled his thick biceps. He didn’t have to raise his deep voice or lift a finger to be intimidating. Great beasts bowed to his command. His wolf had ripped out the throat of a man and walked away while the body bled out. But the mighty beast had cradled a runt pup in one hand while assisting its mother into a van with the other before nestling the baby at her side. Goodness rode his wide back in the same manner power swelled his muscles. Everyone insisted he wouldn’t harm a fly, but such a notion felt foreign. With strength came arrogance, a characteristic he couldn’t deny, and arrogance spawned violence, didn’t it?
A gentle hand touched her cheek. “You okay? Would you rather stay here?”
Looking up, she studied the sincerity in his deep brown eyes and longed to trust, if only for a little while. “Sorry, I’m distracted today.”
“So, we’re on, then?”
She nodded and took the helmet he held out to her. He helped settle it correctly and fastened the chin strap before swinging on the motorcycle and shoving his own helmet in place. Patting the seat behind him, he grinned. “Hop on.”
Nadi swung astride the bike and clutched the bars of the backrest behind her.
Ryan shook his head. “Uh, uh. Hold on to me.”
She didn’t see how she could fall with her legs spread wide around him, but he held her gaze until she gave in and put her hands on his hips. He faced forward then and kicked-started the old bike. It came to life with a roar and a shake. Once he sat down, he balanced the motorcycle with one hand on the bars and used his other to pull her arms tight around his waist. She ended up pressed to his back. The sexy scent of his cologne teased her awareness higher.
“All set?”
At her nod, he shifted gears and turned onto the narrow logging road leading from Jake’s cabin toward the Sanctuary. The trees flashed by at an alarming rate. At first the ride terrified her, but soon the rushing wind offered a thrill, freeing and exciting. He leaned against her. His relaxed attitude comforted her and tension dissipated with the engine’s roar into the forest.
***
Nadi placed her fingers in Ryan’s outstretched hand. He tucked her to his side, and they strolled across the open parking lot toward a long low building near the perimeter fence. The place smelled of animals, humans, and a scent she now recognized as shifter but had always known as nothing more than family.
“Is this where you work, Ryan?”
“Yeah, one of the places anyway. Jake, too. And Kya when she can fit it into her schedule.” He opened a door and ushered her inside. “Most everyone else is a volunteer, but Grant pays the family to keep us close.”
When he led her down a long hall past kennels housing recovering animals, the smell of wolf and dog intensified. Before she could ask any more questions, he opened a gate to a large pen. Straw covered the floor, and puppies of all sizes and breeds frolicked, chasing balls, or pulling on ropes. Children and adults were scattered about the room, laughing and playing.
She recognized a few of the pups. “They’re from the mill, aren’t they?”
“Most of them. Some were dumped here or came to us from other raids.”
She sank to her knees and held
out her hand to a shy Great Dane with sad eyes. Black spots mottled his white coat, and a black mask made his long face even longer. He’d been born to one of the older bitches a month before the liberation. “Hey, little guy? Where’s your mama?”
Ryan sat beside her and scratched the puppy’s ears. “She didn’t make it. The stress of the move, on top of a large litter she had no business carrying at her age, was too much. We lost her yesterday.”
“Where are the rest of her puppies? She had nine, I think.”
“Ten actually.” His hand clenched against his thigh. “Dumbass breeders should be shot.”
“What happened to his litter mates?”
He hesitated, not meeting her gaze. “Grant had to put three of them down. They were too far gone and in pain.”
“And the others?”
“Are in temporary foster homes until they regain their health.”
The pup whined and flopped on his side with a huff. Nadi laughed and rubbed his tummy. “Why did no one take this one? He’s adorable.”
“We ran out of contacts. I was actually hoping you’d volunteer.”
“Me?” A look of awe crossed her face, and she leaned close to the pup. “Would you like to come with me, little guy?”
“Hey, what’s the status on the animals from the mill?” An older man opened the gate and joined them. When he looked her way, he staggered and paled. “Lyusya?”
The name she hadn’t heard in years startled her. Her mother used to talk about the handsome wolf who had called her Lyusya. Nadi rose slowly to her feet.
Ryan stood and grabbed the stranger in a quick hug. “Grant, this is Nadi. Nadi, I’d like you to meet Dr. Grant Ferris. Owner, fundraiser extraordinaire, manager, and surrogate father to every shifter here.”
“I have to go.” Shock blocked the joy of the day. Her father was alive. He hadn’t come back for them—at least not before it was too late. Hadn’t cared his family was trapped in a horrid place. He’d left her sisters to be raped and allowed her mother to cry herself to sleep nearly every night, missing him, fearing the worst. Nadi shoved past the men.
A hand closed over her arm before she could escape. “Baby girl?”
She froze at the tenderness in the older man’s words. “Let go.”
Ryan stepped between them, his chest a wall hiding her focus of anger. “Nadi, what’s wrong?”
“Ask him.”
He turned to her father. “Grant?”
The stranger dropped his hand but continued to stare. “You smell so much like your mother, look much as I had imagined her in human form.”
“You never came back.”
“I thought they killed you all the day I left.”
She laughed. Needed to scream, liar. “Jake’s been here for years. You knew. You could have saved my sisters if nothing else.”
“Jake?” The old man gasped.
Ryan caught him and lowered him to a nearby bench. “Are you their father?”
“I didn’t know. I swear.”
The door banged, and her brother burst in with his usual exuberance. “What’s up?”
Nadi glanced from Jake’s slender form to the thin man before her. Same coloring, same golden eyes, same everything. A blind man could see they were father and son. Had Jake known all along, too? Had he stayed away, uncertain if their mother lived or if his sisters suffered? He’d said otherwise, but had he ever checked? He hadn’t come on the raid the night she’d escaped, hadn’t cared enough to destroy their mother’s killers back at the first mill where they were born. The two men, who should have protected her, could have saved Gray and Sable before it was too late—they had this massive resource at their fingertips but couldn’t be bothered to use it to locate their family. Rage unlike any she’d ever known choked her. Even Diablo had not sparked such emotion. He had been nothing more than a stupid and brutal man. But Jake and Grant were family. They should have done something.
Her brother dropped an arm over her shoulder, but she shoved him back with a snarl. “I trusted you.”
“Huh? What’d I do?”
“Nadi, let them explain.” Ryan touched her arm, concern obvious on his strong face. “Maybe it isn’t what you think.”
“Don’t try to make this better. You can’t fix it.” She gestured between the other two men. “My father and my brother ran and left us to be used and beaten. To be shot down like rabid mongrels. There is no other way to look at it.”
“Father?” Jake turned to stare at Grant. “Is that true?”
She let the shift come while she ran, muscles and joints screaming, but it did not slow her stride. When she slammed into the door, it swung easily out of her way. Someone called her name, but she couldn’t look back. The main gate stood wide. Nothing to stop her from fleeing. The gravel hurt her paws, but soon she reached the trees and moss covered ground.
***
Ryan started after Nadi then stopped himself. If he caught her but had no answers, she wouldn’t listen. Grabbing his little brother by the collar, he shoved him toward the bench beside Grant. “All right, start talking. Grant, you’re first. Jake can take up where you leave off.”
The old man hung his head, his skin matching the white streaks in his hair. “Nearly thirty years ago, I was taken from outside this compound. I suppose they thought I was one of the strays and no one would miss me. I was young, arrogant, and cock-sure of everything. When they threw me in a cage with a beautiful white shifter, I found my life mate. I tried to convince her to run, but she’d been there too long. Didn’t even know she could shift, but I could smell the possibility on her. I could have left at any time. Simply become a man and walked away in the night. But I couldn’t bear to leave her behind, even to go get help, especially once she conceived. When the older girls were born, I tried again to get her to go, but she worried the little ones wouldn’t make it. Once they were big enough, I showed Gray and Sable how to shift, made them practice over and over…before they had it down well enough to make an escape, a couple wolves broke out. The mill owners tightened security and began to shackle all the males at night. I couldn’t shift with the band around my leg without crushing the bones. They separated me from Lyusya and the girls. I learned she carried again about a week later.”
He looked up and stared at his son. “We were all in the exercise yard when your mother went into labor with you. The guards left her in the dirt.” Grant stood, obviously too agitated to be still. “No one seemed to worry about her, left her lying there like she was nothing. The first child, my first son, was born in human form. Your sister came next and then you.”
Jake shoved his fingers through his hair. “Mom regretted not running away with you, but she swore you’d come back if you lived. I believed her. We all did. But you’re no more than a coward.”
“No.” Grant growled, and his wolf glinted in his eyes.
Ryan put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Finish your story.”
With a nod, he sank back on the bench beside his son. “Diablo and a couple others heard the baby cry and came to investigate. It was obvious where it had come from. The umbilical cord remained attached. That bastard kicked my son. He was going to kill him. I had to get him out of there. I shifted, grabbed the child, and ran. I took a bullet in the shoulder and another grazed my hip, but we made it out of the compound. Unfortunately, the baby died, the side of his head caved in by Diablo’s boot. I buried him near the river and came back to the Sanctuary for help. By the time I got here, infection had set in and I could barely move. It took me two weeks to recover. I sent several people to the mill to ask about your mother. Each time they came back with the same story. There was no white wolf or wolf pups in the compound. Just dogs.”
Jake shook his head. “They shut us in a small shack at the back of the property. I think everyone would have written Diablo’s story off to the delusion of a drunken fool, except others witnessed you change and snatch the baby up.”
Grant gripped Jake’s hand. “I thought they’d ki
lled you all. I could have had my family with me. Should have protected you. I won’t blame you and Nadi if you never forgive me.”
“I did the same thing. Ran when I should have stayed. They bred our mother again and again, but nothing ever took. I tried to protect her.” His voice broke. “I would have died for her if I could have.”
Ryan squatted in front of the two men. “Stop beating yourselves up. Jake, tell us what happened. How’d you get away?”
“They decided the baby had been a hairless wolf, not human, and Grant had just seemed bigger in his rage. They kept Mom, hoping they would get another mutant, perhaps start a breed of allergen-free wolves, but she couldn’t conceive from the seed of lesser beings. Stinky and I were in our mother’s pen when the command came down. Diablo pulled her into the yard and put a gun behind her ear. I jumped the fence and lunged for him, but it was too late. Others came running before I could kill the bastard.”
Jake scrubbed his hands over his thighs but didn’t look up from the floor. “I took off. A shot grazed my shoulder. It was nothing more than a flesh wound, but I waited until I was stronger before I returned. I didn’t know how to shift then, wasn’t sure it was even a possibility, so I waited a week or so until things settled down and then went back at night. At the time I didn’t know they’d sold my sisters, but I couldn’t find a trace of them. It was as if their scent had been wiped away, like they never existed. I figured I was too late. That Diablo had gunned them down just as he had killed our mother. I ended up here a few months later and forced myself to forget Stinky and the others.”
A shudder shook him. “The guilt over leaving them never faded, but I tried to block that part of my life. It was too late to save the girls. I couldn’t talk about it to anyone for years. I should have done something, but…as far as I knew, I was the only one left. Pretending allowed me to keep my sanity.”
“I’m sorry, son.” Grant’s voice broke. “For leaving…for not recognizing you. But now I have two of my children back, I won’t lose you again if I can help it.” He stood and headed for the door with Jake on his heels.